Two women remain behind bars for their roles in a deadly shooting that took place Friday inside a Hialeah motel room.
Temika Williams, 39, and 31-year-old Amalia Gomez-Alvarez were arrested Saturday and charged with several counts, including second-degree murder and armed burglary.
Williams and Gomez-Alvarez were being held without bond.
According to a Miami-Dade Police report, both Williams and Gomez-Alvarez where with the victim who died from at JMH’s Ryder Trauma Center after being shot shortly after 10:30 a.m. at the Palacio Inn Motel, located at 845 E. Okeechobee Road.
A statement to police from the second shooting victim said a group of three people, including Williams and the deceased shooting victim, broke into the motel room where he was staying and began fighting with him over $210 owed for drugs.
The victim said a firearm was pulled from one member of the group, forcing him to produce his own firearm and gunshots were exchanged.
“I heard about 12 shots and I ran out and there’s a guy laying there on the ground,” said Robert Ford, who was staying at the motel.
Security camera video from the auto repair shop next door showed part of the aftermath. A man was seen falling onto the pavement in the parking lot, then he gets into a car which takes him to the hospital.
A auto mechanic who was working next door said he wasn’t sure if he heard shots or a truck backfiring.
“I hear five or more shots again and some guy run away and told me, run, somebody’s shooting,” said Alejandro Espinosa.
Hialeah officials said it’s not the first time there’s been violence at the motel.
“We prepared a task force and for the last four months we have been surveilling four motels and it just so happens that this motel was the more problematic one,” said Hialeah City Council president Jesus Tundidor.
Tundidor said Friday’s shooting incident is a prime example of why the city is trying to ban hourly rates in hotels. Right now, he says, 13 hotels in Hialeah offer rooms by the hour.
“This isn’t a surprise to us, we’ve seen not just shootings but we see prostitution, we’ve seen drugs, we see a whole mess of issues and this is why the city council has decided to move forward with this ordinance,” Tundidor said.
The manager at the Palacio said his hotel does not offer hourly rates, contradicting the city council president. He also maintained his hotel does not have a crime problem.
